It has been previously known to provide well string injectors with foldable guides for guiding continuous well strings into the injector from a supply reel. U.S. Pat. No. 8,006,752 discloses a guide tube for continuous rod that is unfolded from a compact storage position on the erected mast of a servicing rig through a combination of manual guide rope and winchline operations. U.S. Pat. No. 6,830,101 discloses a coiled tubing guide formed of arc-shaped segments that are foldable up alongside one another in side-by-side planes by hydraulic cylinders connected between the segments for compact storage and transport of the segments in horizontal orientations atop the injector. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,695,048 and 7,036,578 also disclose segmented coiled tubing guides, but without means for folded-collapse thereof during periods of storage or transport.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,880,630 teaches a tension device straddling a point at which a continuous well string guide is suspended from the mast of the rig in order to stabilize the injector against lateral movement, but again lacks means for folded-collapse during periods of storage or transport.
There remains room for alternatives and improvements in the area of collapsible guides for continuous well strings and stabilization of such guides during use.